Call for Papers

TRANSLATA II is the second in a series of triennial conferences on Translation and Interpreting Studies at the University of Innsbruck. Due to the overwhelming response from participants across the world when it was launched in 2011, TRANSLATA has already emerged as one of the largest international conferences in its field. The proceedings of TRANSLATA I were published by Peter Lang in the series “Forum Translationswissenschaft” (vols. 15 & 16).

TRANSLATA is conceptualized as a forum for basic research in translatology, whose aim it is to refocus on translation proper (= professional translation and interpreting) as the core object of study. In this age of constant paradigmatic changes, research in Translation Studies has tended to deal with anything but translation. Accordingly, TRANSLATA – openness to interdisciplinary perspectives notwithstanding – seeks to retrieve translation proper as the main object of study within Translation Studies.

TRANSLATA is an emphatically multilingual event: rather than subscribing to the uniformity of “English only” gatherings, this conference is open to a wide variety of working languages and presentations.
By organising the TRANSLATA II, entitled “Translation in Theory and Practice”, the Department of Translation Studies at the University of Innsbruck wishes to offer all those who deal with translation theoretically, practically, didactically and commercially a shared forum for exchange on the following questions and problems:

New developments regarding the practice of translation and its markets

What are the main challenges and problems that arise from these new developments?

Should translation theory take account of the practice of translation at all? What is the actual relationship between theory and practice?

The ALPAC report and the present-day increasing use machine translation

The role of new information and communication technologies and digital humanities in Translation Studies and translation practice

Has translator and interpreter training missed the boat on the digital age?

What characterises the development of Translation Studies in recent decades?

What are the core questions, main concepts and the object of study in Translation Studies?

And yet it translates! Human-Machine Interaction in Translation in the 21st Century

Legal Translation: Challenges in Theory and Practice

Translating Humo(u)r

For the first time TRANSLATA II is going to award a prize for the best three presentations by PhD students. Applicants are requested to give notice of their wish to take part in the competition when registering for the conference.

Also for the first time, TRANSLATA II is going to be accompanied by presentations by noted providers from the translation industry who will demonstrate their latest developments in the field of machine translation and other translation technologies.

The presentation and exchange of new ideas and research outcomes aims to deepen our understanding of translation, to optimise translator and interpreter training, to improve translation management as well as to enhance the available conceptual tools for assessing translation quality.

After the great success of TRANSLATA I, the University of Innsbruck is now hosting TRANSLATA II in order to further advance basic research into translation and interpreting by creating a broad international discussion forum for experienced and emerging researchers, teachers, as well as professional translators and interpreters. As was the case with TRANSLATA I, the proceedings of TRANSLATA II, including the workshops, will be published in the Peter Lang series, "Forum Translationswissenschaft".

The working language of the conference will be German, but papers are also welcome in English, French, Italian, Russian and Spanish. Participation is open to scholars, students and teachers in the field of Translation Studies, as well as to translators, translation companies, interpreters, linguists, terminologists, publishers, etc.

Abstracts
Abstracts for papers in parallel sessions (300 words max., see template) dealing with one or more of the issues identified above should be sent to mail@translata.info by 7th June 2014. Notification of abstract acceptance will be sent by 15th June 2014. Papers are allotted 20 minutes for presentation followed by 10 minutes for discussion. The organisers will issue a separate call for participants for the workshops.